Pilot (Episode)
"Pilot" is the first episode in the first season of Smallville, and first episode overall. It aired on October 16, 2001. Summary The first (and pilot) episode of SMALLVILLE tells the story of the 1989 meteor shower in Smallville, Kansas and it's meteor rock effects on the small town. Clark Kent is adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent after they discover him as a young boy in Riley Corn Field. Years later, while already understanding he is different than others, Smallville High student Clark Kent begins his journey towards his destiny. He begins discovering new abilities and strengths, which he uses to save the life of billionaire, Lex Luthor. The pilot introduces the first of many meteor infected victims, Jeremy Creek, who had been tied to a post in Riley Corn field as the traditional Smallville Scarecrow during the 1989 meteor shower. Recap On October 7, 1989, a meteor shower flies through space towards the earth with a small spaceship centred in the middle of them. Oblivious to these events in space, rich businessman Lionel Luthor and his young son are flying in their helicopter to a factory in Smallville. Nine-year-old Lex Luthor is scolded by his father for expressing his fear during the flight, later finding relief when they land. Meanwhile, young Smallville couple Jonathan and Martha Kent take a trip into town, visiting florist shop owner and Johnathan's former girlfriend Nell Potter and her three-year-old niece Lana Lang. Nell is looking after her niece whilst her parents are at the Homecoming football game. Johnathan buys some flowers whilst Martha makes a wish from Lana who is dressed up in a fairy princess costume she was given for Halloween. After leaving Nell's flower shop Martha reveals her wish for a child as the couple are about to Drive away they notice the homecoming parade coming down the road as the Smallville crows celebrate winning another match. The pair eventually start to make their way back to their farm. As the meteors and space ship starts getting closer to earth, Lionel Luthor starts to make a business deal with Dale Ross and Bill Ross of the Ross family creamed corn factory to buy their factory. Whilst a bored Lex starts to wander off into Riley Corn Field. After hearing someone whisper "help me", he runs in a panic, stumbling to the ground where he is called upon by fourteen-year-old Jeremy Creek who is without clothing and tied to a cross with an "S" painted on his chest. Suddenly a meteor hits the cornfield and creates a shockwave seemingly swallowing Jeremy and Lex. In the town, the townspeople gawk at the destructive trail of the meteor that had hit Riely field. Suddenly more meteors hit the town including one that kills Lana's parents, Lewis and Laura Lang. The barrage of meteors leaves a path of destruction in its wake and even Jonathan and Martha are caught in the madness when their pickup truck gets overturned by a meteor. Lionel races off to find Lex only to find him lying in the cornfield, with only a small patch of red hair remaining on his head. Linoel backs away in horror as he sees that lex is now bold. While hanging upside down in their truck the Kent couple is approached by a young boy without clothes or parents. After getting out of the truck they search Nearby for the boy's parents only to find a black spaceship laying in some wreckage, seemingly this young boy they have just found is not of this planet. The Kents decide to keep the boy and name him Clark. 12 Years later, in 2001, Smallville is now "The Meteor Capital of the World" with a population of 45,001. We see fourteen-year-old teenage Clark Kent now a high school freshman. He is surfing the internet looking up various impossible acts on his computer. After being called down to breakfast by his mother he then tries to convince his parents to allow him to play high school football. Overly cautious of his growing abilities, Jonathan disappoints Clark and refuses to sign the permission slip fearing he will accidentally hurt other students. Leaving the Kent farm a moment too late, Clark misses his bus to Smallville High. On the bus already is Clarks two best friends Pete Ross and Chloe Sullivan, they discuss how Clark is always slow and Chloe hears a noise on the roof, but Pete thinks she is imagining it. It is Clark having just used his super-speed to go through a cornfield short cut and has jumped on top of the bus. After arriving at school Pete asks Chloe if she's going to the homecoming dance and if she is, if she 's planning on going with Clark, which causes her to insist she does not have a crush on him only for Pete to ask her to go with him instead "Just as friends". Chloe and Pete bump into Clark who makes up a lame excuse for arriving before they do, leaving Chloe perplexed. Clark tells Pete that he can't sign up for the football team which amuses Chloe forcing the pair to explain that they only want to join the football team to avoid becoming the "Scarecrow". A tradition in which every year the Smallville High football team chooses the geekiest freshman male who they leave in his underwear tied to a cross in a cornfield, like a scarecrow. Suddenly Clark notices Lana, who has grown to become a beautiful young lady. When Clark approaches her he becomes physically ill due to Lana wearing a necklace made from the meteor that killed her parents. This causes Clark to fall over in pain and it's revealed by the reaction of Chloe and Pete that this isn't the first time Clark has fallen over in front of his crush. As Lana helps Clark pick up his books, High School Senior Quarterback and Lana's boyfriend Whitney Fordman, arrives and kisses Lana, noticing Clark on the floor Whitney pitties Clark and asks him if he's ok before leaving with Lana to go to Class. Also inside the school is Jeremy Creek (looking exactly as he did twelve years ago). He gazes at the football trophy case, then breaks it and steals a picture of three smiling football players. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Twenty-one year old Lex Luthor arrives in Smallville to assume management of the Smallville branch of his father's company, a fertilizer plant on the site of the former Ross Creamed Corn factory. It's clear from his deminer that he doesn't want to be there as he sarcastically says "Thanks dad" to himself. Back at Smallville High at after school football tryouts, Clark watches Lana practising with the other cheerleaders. He daydreams about being the star quarterback and winning the game, only to be interrupted by Pete dressed in Clark's words "like a tackling dummy". Clark then leaves and walks home at normal speed to think and mope. A truck passes him and some sharp debris falls from it, coming the other way is Lex who is speeding along when his cell phone rings. Distracted, he doesn't notice the object which fell from the tuck lying in the road ahead. His tyres get shredded and he ends up losing control of his car. He sees Clark moments before the car hits him. Both go over the Loeb Bridge into Elbow River. The impact knocks Lex unconscious, but Clark swims towards him, rips the top off of his car, and pulls him out. He resuscitates Lex, who is sure he hit Clark, but Clark brushes him off. When Clark's father arrives at the scene, he is very unhappy with Lex and tells him to drive slower in future. Later that night, Clark is in the loft of his parents' barn. He spies on Lana, who is also his neighbour. She is taking to her Whitney about Clark saving Lex's life and Lana gives him her necklace for good luck in the homecoming game as a scout f2rom Metropolis will be there to watch them the team play. She tells him about it being made from the same meteor that killed her parents "So much bad luck came from it, there must only be good luck left". Also that night at Frank's auto shop, Jeremy looms in the shadows watching Frank work on a car. When Frank notices him and Jeremy steps into some light and gets closer Frank recognises him as the scarecrow kid from 12 years ago. When Jeremy doesn't say anything Frank tires to shake him only to get electrocuted and fall to the floor. Asking him what he wants and telling him it was just a game, Jeremy replies with "to play". He then electrocutes Frank and holds him up against a wall zapping him into a coma, shattering an image of Frank in his youth with two other football players that Jeremy holds responsible for putting him out in the cornfield twelve years earlier. The next day, after arriving home from school Clark notices a brand new truck in the driveway. Martha tells him it's as a gift from Lex for saving his life and Johnathan has the keys. However, Johnathan doesn't want Clark to keep it due to an animosity he has towards the Luthors. He tells Clark that they evicted their neighbours to buy land for LuthorCorp's factories that made the money that probably bought the truck. When Jonathan says that it's normal for Clark to be upset, Clark turns on the wood chipper and sticks his hand inside to demonstrate that he is not "normal", leaving Jonathan stunned. This act forces Jonathan to explain to Clark his origins, at first Clark doesn't want to believe him until he shows him the spaceship, which they have hidden in their storm cellar. He tells Clark that he arrived in it during the meteor shower. Clark is angry and says he should've been told sooner. He runs away to think and meets Lana in Smallville Cemetery. Not wanting to tell her why he's there he asks her why she's in a graveyard and she confesses that she goes there to talk to her dead parents. She and Clark have their first real conversation as Whitney now has Lana's necklace. Clark walks Lana home and he asks if her if she's going to the homecoming dance when she replies she's going with Whitney, she then asks Clark if he's going with anyone. He says that he is going to sit it out and Lana says if he changes his mind, she'll save him a dance. She then kisses him on the cheek and goes home but watching Whitney watching from the shadows is Whitney who quickly appears jealous. The next day before school Clark goes to Lex's mansion to return the keys to the truck. He explains to Lex that he can't keep the truck and Lex realizes it's because Clark's father doesn't like him. He thinks it's because of his boldness but Clark tells him it's because of the things Lex's father has done to the town. Lex thinks Johnathan is worried that the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree and that Lex might be like his father. When Lex asks Clark if he is like Jonathan and believes that Lex is a bad person, Clark, who is still coming to terms with being an alien, tells him he's got to go. Lex then asks Clark if he believes a man can fly, and that after the accident and his heart stopped he had a vision of flying over Smallville. Lex says he doesn't want anything to stand in the way of their friendship. Meanwhile, Pete and Chloe are at the scene of a crime. A third former football player has been found in a coma. They see Jeremy sculling around after releasing they have never seen him at school before and that he is acting strange they quickly snap his picture. They take the photo to the office of the school newspaper, the Smallville Torch as Chloe is the editor of it. Joined by Clark the 3 manage to find him in a twelve-year-old yearbook. They realize he has been in a coma since the meteor shower and hasn't aged a day because he was suffering from an electrolyte imbalance. He escaped from the hospital during an electrical storm and is now prowling around Smallville electrocuting jocks and putting them into comas for revenge. Clark doesn't believe such a thing is possible but Chloe shows him her "Wall of Weird" - a collection of articles about the strange goings-on in Smallville since the meteor shower. Clark then sees Lana's face in an article about the meteor shower and releases her parents died during the events that bought him to earth and believes that he is to blame. He quickly leaves, whilst Pete and Chloe look on. As Clark is leaving the school, Whitney picks him to be the next scarecrow. Clark tries to fight, back but Whitney is wearing Lana's necklace. When Clark notices the necklace, Whitney puts it on Clark which renders him helpless. Whitney and his fellow football players throw him in the back of a pickup truck but Jeremy has witnessed the event and follows them. Clark is strung up in field on a cross with an "S" painted on his chest. Jeremy finds him and realises that this hazing ritual will never stop even though hed punished the jocks that did it to him as a warning. Clark asks him to free him but he refuses to help, telling Clark that he'll be safer where he is. Clark realises that Jeremy plans to go to the homecoming dance and electrocute everyone there. Jeremy then leaves just as Lex is driving by. Lex sees Jeremy as he jumps the fence and he recognizes him from twelve years ago. Lex gets out his car to investigate but Jeremy slips away. Lex then hears Clark cry for help and searches for him in the field he quickly finds him and unties Clark. Lana's necklace falls off in the commotion and as Clark runs away, Lex picks it up. At the dance, everyone is having fun dancing but unknown to everyone inside Jeremy is about to set off the sprinkler system to get them wet for electrocution. But Clark shows up and orders him to stop, he then tries to connect to Jeremy telling him he understands his pain. But Jeremy is in denial that he is in pain and points out that the homecoming hazing needs to stop and that punishing everyone inside is the only way. When Clark moves to block him, Jeremy tries to electrocute him only for Clark to be immune, Clark then grabs and throws Jeremy away from the sprinklers. Clark warns him to give up but Jeremy then uses his electric powers to start a maintenance truck up. Jeremy tries to run Clark down with the truck but Clark grabs onto it causing Jermey to crash into a water main. As the cab of the truck fills with water, he short-circuits himself. When Clark opens the door of the truck he notices Jermey has turned back to his true age of 25, his powers are gone and he has no memory of Clark. He asks Clark where he is and who Clark is. Clark introduces himself to Jermey and tells him he's in Smallville. Jeremy says that he just wants to go home and Clark nods. Clark goes into the gym and watches Lana and Whitney dance after being crowned Homecoming King and Queen and leaves in frustration. When he sees Whitney's truck, he pauses. After the dance, the students are astonished to see three trucks belonging to the football players stacked one on top of the other making Whitney furious as Clark smiles and superspeeds away. Back at his loft, Clark looks out into space through his telescope. Jonathan comes to the loft to talk to Clark telling him about how his father gave him the telescope when Jonathan was Clark's age. Clark is no longer angry and says he is glad the Kents are the ones that found him. Jonathan says it was Clark who found them. Clark daydreams that Lana stops by and gives him the dance she promised him. As they dance, she asks him if everything is alright, and he responds that it's perfect. The sound of a car horn jolts him back to reality, as he watches Lana being dropped off by classmates. He gazes at her and whispers, "Thanks for the dance, Lana." She turns, almost as if she heard him, then smiles to herself, and walks into her house. Clark remains looking out the window. Cast Starring *Clark Kent *Lana Lang *Lex Luthor *Whitney Fordman *Pete Ross *Chloe Sullivan *Martha Kent *Jonathan Kent Special Guest Star *Lionel Luthor Guest Starring *Nell Potter Co-Starring *Jeremy Creek *Laura Lang *Lewis Lang Locations * Smallville ** Kent Farm *** Kent House *** Kent Barn *** Clark Kent's Loft *** Kent Storm Cellar) ** Smallville High School *** Smallville Torch ** Luthor Mansion ** Lawson's Field ** LuthorCorp Fertilizer Plant No. 3 ** Main Street ** Smallville Cemetary ** Loeb Bridge Category:Episodes Category:Smallville Episodes Category:Smallville Season 1 Episodes Category:Season Premieres